Phoenix sat in his room on the Condor, playing his guitar.
"Phoenix! Dinner's ready!" Piper shouted.
"Okay Mam!" Phoenix shouted back, and went to the table where all of the Storm Hawks were eating dinner.
"Hey Dad, have you had much to do today? Fighting Talons, saving innocent people etc. etc…?"
"No, none at all." Aerrow replied.
"We haven't had much action for a while, dude." Finn said.
"I know, I bet Stork's pleased, aren't you Stork?" Junko said, trying to pat Stork's head. (Junko thought it was patting, Stork thought Junko was trying to murder him, and quickly dived out of the way)
"No, not really. Not with deadly diseases and all the dangerous and hazardous objects that call fall or injure me right here…"
"Right…" Phoenix said, starting to eat. Suddenly, an alarm Phoenix had never heard went off, and Stork jumped, falling off his chair, pulling off the tablecloth and most of the food and cutlery with it.
"Stork!" Piper shouted, trying to pick up whatever she could as Stork scuttled away from the mess to check there was nothing wrong with his beloved Condor.
Aerrow went to see what the alarm was. Stork said it meant an unknown enemy craft was within attacking range.
"Unknown? You mean like a UFO?" Phoenix said.
"Sort of, it just means that we've never come across it/them before."
"I see…so…you don't know if it's Cyclonian?"
"No-"
Then the usual alarm went off, signalling it was indeed Cyclonian.
"There's only one and it's a lone Talon, I'm gonna go solo ok?" Aerrow said.
"Alright, but be careful!" Piper called, still picking things up.
"I will! I'm a capable young adult!"
"You're not that young…"
"Whatever…" and with that, Aerrow jumped on his skimmer Radarr following him, and they left the hangar.
They soon spotted the Talon, he was only about 50 metres away. As soon as the Talon saw Aerrow, he same to be somewhat startled, and appear to almost fall off his skimmer. Aerrow grinned at this. He should be easy to beat. Aerrow stood up on his skimmer, while Radarr piloted, and drew his energy blades. The Talon seemed to groan and pulled out his own blade. Aerrow could see that it had been made by Cyclonian smiths, it was poorly made and it's hilt was the same as all the other Talons', yet everything else was different. The blade itself was perhaps the most noticeable. It was at least twice the size of any Talon's standard blade, and seemed even longer than Dark Ace's. It's shape intricately curled and spiked in all directions and it's point was fine and sharp. The crystal in it's pommel was also different. Aerrow didn't know what it was, but it made the blade shine with a blue radiance, and seemed to give off a slight, smoky haze. The sword had a longer guard than most too, however, Aerrow wasn't phased for long by this, and took up a fighting stance. The Talon did the same, standing on his skimmer. Aerrow was shocked by this too, he'd never seen a Talon do that, except Dark Ace, and he could tell this Talon was certainly not Dark Ace.
Aerrow swiped in a clean arc, testing the Talon's skill. The Talon fended off his attack easily, but as Aerrow was slightly dazed, the Talon made no move to attack, only to defend. After a few more swipes, increasing his force and skill each time, Aerrow decided to attack the talon properly, landing flurries of blows, and eventually, knocking the Talon off his skimmer. The Talon fell, dropping his blade and hurtling to the ground. His parachute didn't open. The Talon looked as though he had been knocked unconscious. Aerrow hadn't meant to knock the Talon out, just stun him or attack him until he left. Aerrow dived off his skimmer, opening the glider wings on his back and catching the Talon just before he hit the ground. The storm hawks all came outside to see what was going on. They all gasped as the Talon's hood fell down.
"He's just a kid!" Phoenix said.
"Dude, there's something up with his eye…and his hair, he seriously needs a haircut…" Finn said, pointing at the strip of cloth, and then the Talon's hair.
Piper lifted off the cloth and the goggles, and looked at the boy. He had a strange scar on his eye and he was very pale. He had long, matted, orange/ginger hair.
Aerrow carried the Talon inside and lay him down in the spare bedroom until he woke up. Phoenix stayed in the room too, and didn't have to wait long until the Talon's eyes flickered open.
"Hello." Phoenix said, cheerily.
"Uh, hello. Where am I?" The Talon said, still slightly dazed.
"The Condor."
"THE Condor?"
"The one and only." Phoenix winked.
"Wow…"
"What's your name?"
"Gwyddyn. You?"
"I'm Phoenix, pleased to meet you, well, sort of. You're a Talon…which is bad."
"Oh I'm not really a Talon…well, sort of. I…I…I had to get out of Cyclonia, and this was the only real way of doing it."
"Why were you in Cyclonia?"
"I'm…"
"You're?…"
"I'm…Master Cyclonis' brother."
"I didn't know Master Cyclonis had a brother."
"Well, you do now."
"Yeah, I guess I do. How old are you?"
"I'm 14, and you?"
"I'm 14 too!"
"Wow, awesome!"
"Yeah…My dad says you're a good fighter for your age. He said you were harder to beat than most Talons."
"Oh so Aerrow's your Dad."
"That's right. Piper's my Mam."
"Oh. That's cool." Gwyddyn laughed. "Your Dad's my favourite sky knight EVER."
Phoenix laughed too. "I bet he'll be glad to hear that. He always thinks everyone likes the other Storm Hawks better.""That's mean."
"Not really, 'cos it's not true. My Dad just thinks so."
"Well you tell him for me!" Gwyddyn grinned a wide cheesy grin, that seemed to stretch from ear to ear.
"Oh I will." Phoenix said, then paused and pondered for a few seconds. "Do you…wanna stay with us for a bit?"
"Really?!"
"Well yeah. I'm sure my dad won't mind."
"Thanks a lot! I don't really have anywhere else…"
"You're welcome! Shall I show you the spare room?"
"Okay!"
And with that, Phoenix led Gwyddyn to the spare room on the condor, while everyone else cleared up the mess that Stork had made.
